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Although short term stress can be advantageous, chronic stress can have the opposite effect. Our bodies are hard wired with a flight-or-flight response to give us a survival advantage. In pre-historic days, that helped us fight or escape from predators. Unlike the acute stress of facing a predator, modern stress is chronic, such as from conflicts at work or at home– and can overload our stress response. In this video, done with the amazing TED-Ed team, you can see how chronic stress can affect your heart, your waistline, and your longevity–and what you can do about it!

It may be the disease of our time. Stress and stress related illnesses are on the rise—with 44% of Americans reporting an increase in psychological stress in just the past five years. The American Psychological Association warns that we are a nation on the verge of a stress-induced public health crisis.

Stress in everyday life is only partly to blame. The crisis is compounded by how we respond: overwhelmed by stress, we often view lifestyle and behavioral changes needed to mitigate stress as insurmountable. We get trapped in a vicious cycle of heightened stress, poor health choices, and spiraling physical consequences. Continue Reading...